Medfield BOS Report: Selectmen Shuffle Seats for Upcoming Year

At his first meeting since being re-elected as Medfield selectman, Mark Fisher was "demoted" to the Board's third member seat while Olser Peterson was "promoted" to chairman and Ann B. Thompson to clerk.

"First of all I would like to congratulate Mark on the election campaign and being re-elected and I move, despite that, that Pete [Olser Peterson] become chair for the upcoming year," said Thompson. 

Fisher, moments after being sworn in by Town Clerk Carol A. Mayer, seconded Thompson's motion and Peterson was named chairman of the board for the upcoming year. The selectmen then shuffled their seats and took their new chairs as they rotate the three position each year.

"We switch the  chair every year but what we do is we just take turns so every third year you get the chair again," said Peterson. "I think it's important."

Said Thompson: "There were some boards before that didn't do it that way. I think rotating is a great idea."

At each BOS meeting, the selectmen each report on what they hear, see or participate in around town and this is what they had to say at the April 5 meeting:

Thompson:

• Medfield resident and author, Jon F. Merz, who has written a series of vampire novels, is working on a pilot for a TV series called "The Fixer," according to an article in the Boston Herald that Thompson recently read. "He's now got a pilot on a [TV series] called 'The Fixer,'" Thompson said. "We will have to see if we get another movie here in Medfield, maybe they will do that at the State Hospital too. I didn't know about this at all and it was terrific. I haven't met [Merz] yet but I look forward to seeing that [TV series]."
• A group of Blake Middle School eighth graders were recently seen on Channel 4 when they were in Boston for an anti-bullying campaign. "What a great idea to have a group of Medfield kids in there with what I think they said was 1,100 kids at [the Anti-Bullying Conference],” said Thompson. “That’s dynamite, really impressive and I’m looking forward to talking to my grandson [who was there] about it and find out how it went.”
• The Memorial Day Committee met and is "all set for Memorial Day," according to Thompson.
• The Library Trust Fund is talking on how to simplify the trust fund so people are more aware of where the money goes. "There are so many different funds around and so many different trusts around and people are confused of what we do with it so we are going to work on that for our next meeting," Thompson said. 
• Thompson went to Career Day with the eighth grade at Blake Middle School and saw several classes there. Thompson and Richard DeSorgher gave presentations to the students on Patriotism. "Patriotism begins right here," Thompson said. "Patriotism starts at home in your backyard and in your small town, it isn't just national. I hope we can get some of the kids as volunteers for projects later on."
• The TV Collection Day at the Highway Department was "jammed," according to Thompson. "There were people going in and out. I don't know if you [other selectmen] delivered any televisions but we did. It was a great program and it was nice to see people doing it. It's great people took the time and paid to get rid of it instead of just dumping it." Town Administrator Michael Sullivan said he was told there were four truck loads at the Highway Department hauling TVs away. Sullivan added that in terms of making money from the collection, the town breaks even but "it's still a good thing to do in terms of getting that material out of here."

Fisher:

• "It gets busy this time of year with a lot of activities," Fisher said. "We've been all over the place with Eagle Scout ceremonies, Gold Star Award ceremonies. Saturday was a particularly busy day for us as we had boy scouts, girl scouts and then Pete [Peterson] and I were at the Lowell Mason Auditorium dedication that night."
• Fisher also attended Sunday's Medfield Foundation's Volunteer of the Year event at the Medfield Senior Center. "The foundation was a wonderful volunteer recognition event that we attended," Fisher said. "It really made you feel good about all the wonderful things that people do in town. It’s nice to hear great stories and we were only there for a couple hours on Sunday afternoon."

Peterson:

• Peterson, who is a member of the Medfield Foundation, was very pleased with the event as a whole. "The Medfield Foundation’s Volunteer recognition event went exceedingly well this year," said Peterson. "It’s been a different format at the reception at each of the three years and this year by having almost all the people there and giving the people who suggested them as well as the people suggested the opportunity to tell what they have done worked very nicely."
• The Lyme Disease Committee has been very active and trying to get ready for Town Meeting and their plan set for what they are going to do.

Assistant Town Administrator, Kristine Trierweiler, announced that transfer station stickers are now available and that everyone "will need a new sticker" by July 1.

"People can either mail-in application and registration and we will mail it back to them or they can come in person," said Trierweiler. "Two of the administrative assistants and the DPW have been taking turns going up to the transfer station and senior center and giving out stickers, which has been very popular."

Trierweiler said stickers will also be available on April 30 at Medfield Green Day at the American Legion.

"We will have somebody staffing the booth that day so people can get stickers," she said. 

The current stickers expire on June 30 and the 2011 sticker's color is green. Residents can pay by check or cash.